Sacked for bigoted behaviour

RACIST DIATRIBE: Marc Anwar posted offensive Tweets about Indian people and has subsequently been sacked from the nation’s most popular TV soap ( Pic cred: YouTube)

Corrie actor released after racist tweets

After tweeting alleged racist rants about Indian people this week, Coronation Street star Marc Anwar has been sacked from the soap.

The 60-year-old actor, who was born in Pakistan, joined the show in 2014 to play the role of Sharif Nazir and has left the show ‘with immediate effect’ for the comments posted from his protected account.

The alleged tweets from Anwar's Twitter were critical of India over the disputed Kashmir region and called on Pakistani actors to stop working in the country, amid heightened tensions between the two nations over the divided Himalayan territory following deadly attacks by militants.

The tweets also referred to Indian people as ‘b*******’ and ‘p***-drinking c****’.

In a YouTube video posted on Sunday 25th September, Mr Anwar apologised for his behaviour.

He said: “I'd like to offer my sincere apologies for my tweets on Friday.

“The language was unacceptable and I feel I've let a lot of people down. I hope everyone I offended can find it in their hearts to forgive me.”

Fiyaz Mughal, director of the charity Faith Matters, said: “It’s unacceptable for anyone today to put material online that targets a segment of a population. You can’t just blame a whole group of people for a conflict.”

ITV said in a statement: “We are deeply shocked by the entirely unacceptable, racially offensive comments made on Twitter by Marc Anwar.

“We have talked to Marc and, as a consequence of his comments, he will not be returning to Coronation Street with immediate effect."

ITV confirmed that pre-filmed episodes with the actor will still air, but his presence in the show will be minimised until his character can be written out.